Anti-Ahmadiyya
Campaign in Full Swing
With the apparent help of the police, the zealots forcibly
hung a defamatory signboard on an Ahmadiyya mosque in Bogra.
Newspapers last week ran a photograph, which showed two policemen
fix the board that declared, "A Place of Worship of the
Kadianis in Bogra Town. No Muslim Should be Deceived into
Considering it a Mosque".

Carrying
iron rods around 10 thousand zealots, who belonged to the
International Khatme Nabuwat Movement (IKNM), ghearoed an
Ahmadiyya mosque in downtown Bogra. Being intercepted by the
law enforcers, the IKNM demanded the police hand them over
the Ahmadiyya publications from the mosque. The mob also wanted
to put the notice board they were carrying. Police took five
IKNM leaders inside the Ahmadiyya mosque, which sparked an
altercation between the community leader Abdul Awal Khan and
members of the police.

Additional
Police Super of Bogra, Zakir Hossain, soon came with a flag
of rescue for the zealots. He ordered his force to listen
to the demand of IKNM leaders, which the police carried out
with uncharacteristic precision.

Meanwhile,
from a meeting in the capital, leaders of International Majlis-e
Tahaffuz-e Khatme Nabuwat (IMTKNB), another little known group,
said, "Muslims in the country will not abide by any decision
of the High Court (on the Ahmadiyya issue), rather they will
fight until the end to establish Islamic laws in the country".

"The
government lacks the courage to declare Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim.
Those who consider Ahmadiyyas Muslims are not Muslims,"
Azizul Hoque, chief of a faction of the Islami Oikko Jote,
said.

Khatib
of Baitul Mukarram Mosque, Obaidul Haque, warned, "Kadiyanis
(Ahmadiyyas) should be declared non Muslim for their own safety.
Otherwise conscious Muslims may take law in their own hands."

Agent
Orange claims go to court
A New York court began hearing a lawsuit brought by more than
100 Vietnamese affected by the chemical defoliant Agent Orange
during the Vietnam War.

Marking
the first time the Vietnamese have sought legal redress since
the US war of aggression against the south-east Asian country,
the suit seeks compensation and a clean-up of contaminated
areas by more than 30 firms, among them Dow Chemical and Monsanto,
the largest producers of Agent Orange.

US forces
sprayed an estimated 20 million gallons of herbicides, including
Agent Orange, in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to deny food
and jungle cover to the Vietnamese guerrilla forces. But the
chemical remained in the water and soil for decades.

Some three
million Vietnamese and thousands of US soldiers who fought
in Vietnam have suffered from severe physical defects over
the years. Agent Orange, named after the colour of its containers,
is blamed for nightmarish birth defects in Vietnam, where
babies appeared with two heads or without eyes or arms.

US veterans
of the war have complained of a variety of health problems
resulting from exposure to the herbicide. Dioxin, the toxic
compound in Agent Orange, has been shown to cause cancer,
birth defects and organ dysfunction.

It is
unclear whether the Vietnamese plaintiffs will succeed, but
there are precedents in a 1984 agreement by Dow and Monsanto
to pay $180 million to US veterans. The US government has
consistently refused to discuss compensation for the deadly
effects of its chemical defoliants.Source: Radio Havana
Cuba

Out-Rabbed
A member of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was caught (by another
RAB team) taking a Taka 1 lakh bribe at a rice store in Gopibagh
last week. He was number 107 in a long line of members of
the elite to force to be arrested and punished for various
offences since the inception of the organisation nine months
ago. Besides being criticised for a large number of questionable
deaths of criminals in "crossfire", RAB members
have been alleged to have collected tolls from people and
releasing criminals after arrest. The Intelligence Wing of
the force apparently monitors the members and their activities.
Those who violate discipline are sent back to their mother
organisations to be dealt with accordingly and as per the
regulations of that organisation. Punishment -- of the crime-fighting
force comprised of members from various organisations, including
different law-enforcing agencies, Ansar and defence forces
-- has ranged from fines and suspension to rigorous imprisonment.

Three
give confessional statements
President of Laskarpur union BNP M Jamir Ali, President of
Laskarpur union Zia Smriti O Gabeshana Parishad Zainal Abedin
Momin and driver Tajul Islam of Bhadoi village, three of the
four people arrested regarding the killing of the former finance
minister Shah AMS Kibria gave confessional statements before
a first class magistrate this week. The fourth arrested, AKM
Abdul Qayyum, central president of Zia Smriti O Gabeshana
Parishad and vice-president of district BNP, declined to give
any statement.

Some still
seem to doubt the validity of these confessions, and wonder
if the accused made them upon being taken on remand several
times and interrogated extensively by the Joint Interrogation
Cell.

Goodbye
to smoking!The
government took yet another step, to bring about a change
in the country for the better of its people, this week. Health
and Family Welfare Minister Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain introduced
the bill titled 'Smoking and Tobacco Usage (control) Act,
2005', imposing a ban on smoking at public places and in public
transports, and on advertisement of tobacco products. It also
prohibits publication of advertisements of tobacco products
in newspapers, books and magazines, in radio and television
broadcasts, and in cinema.

No Company
will be allowed to distribute tobacco free of cost, arrange
any competition and make any offer of scholarship or donation
to publicise tobacco products. A punishment of three months
imprisonment or a fine of Tk 1,000 or both is enforceable
for its violation.

Mosharraf
Hossain said that this bill is aimed at discouraging smoking
and sales of cigarettes and tobacco products in the country.
However, opposition Jatiya Party (Ershad) lawmakers were critical
about the new law and said that it would create new scopes
of corruption for the police who would definitely grab this
chance to harass innocent people by misusing the law.